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Craftermath

About Me

Welcome to Living the Good Life, a blog that is not dedicated to any one thing in particular just to our life here in New Zealand.
We immigrated to New Zealand from the UK in April 2004, knowing that there was more to life that the usual rat race we came here to find a better lifestyle, and find it we did. Since coming here we've settled into a pace of life that we never take for granted, made friends that with open hearts and arms made the whole transition so much easier. We live on an 8 acre lifestyle block with our Boer goats, Dexter cattle and chooks. We share our home with our dogs Bonnie(RIP), Clyde(RIP) and Max and the cats Tiger, Squidge(RIP) and Jinx. Our son Michael no longer lives at home but he has embraced the Kiwi lifestyle, playing rugby and generally being a good kiwi bloke. There's a little bit of self sufficiency going on here but not so much it rules our lives. Just enough to keep us fed and happy, enough of a lifestyle to make us feel good, in fact you could say we are Living the Good Life.
Thank you for stopping by, it's good to see you. And you know what, if you want to leave a comment I can come and see you too.
Love from The Webbers x

Blog Archive

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Good tip: If you use lots of spices, don't spend a fortune on those silly little boxes or bottles at the supermarket. Go to your local Indian or Asian store and buy them by the scoop! In the picture I filled 6 jars of spices and got a big bottle of white vinegar and it only came to $5.50!

Preserving

The plums have gone you'll be pleased to know, BUT one crop ends another begins! Well other peoples crops it seems! Our tomatoes are only just begining to ripen although the cucumbers are coming thick and fast. Then one of our neighbours turned up with a big basket of pears and another neighbour with a load of cherry tomatoes. More to come from those in a later post.A friends gave me some scallopinis, our courgettes have been a total non event, but we got some from the neighbours garden, (we didn't steal them!) and we had our own cucumbers.I asked at Down to Earth for recipes for cucumber/courgettes etc. here(You will need to sign up to view the thread) Calliecat posted this recipe:Ingredients:1kg cucumber/zucchini2 large onionsSalt1 cup sugar1 cup vinegar2 tsp mustard seeds1/2 tsp celery seed1 tsp tumericMethod:Slice veggies thinly(I diced them) and cover with handful of salt. Stand 2 hours, then rinse off. In a saucepan bring other ingredients to a boil. Boil for 4 minutes, add sliced vegetables and return to boil. Pour into clean jars. This pickle is very tasty with cheese and bickies etc and perfect to use up a glut of cucumbers or zucchini.

Calliecat said "depends on personal tastes of course, but I can say these are yumany soft vegie can be used ie capsicum as well if you need to make up to 1kg "

On my forum Webber's Whacky World (you will need to sign up to view) I asked the same question 'In the Kitchen'. Clucking Crazy(she is too ya know!) gave me this recipe:

This is a Digby law recipe - he is the king of pickles !!Really nice and easy cucumber relishYou will need:500g peeled and cored apples2 cups malt vinegar500g sugar1 tsp white pepper2 tsp curry powder2 tablespoon tumeric (gives that nice bright colour)1 tablespoon salt500 g onions minced750 g peeled and minced cucumber (I used my blade on the food processor to chop up the onion and cucumber)

Method:Cook the apples in the vineagr for about 5 minutesAdd sugar,pepper,curry,tumeric salt and minced onions and boil till onions are softAdd cucumber to pot and boil another 5 or so minutes.Pour into hot jars and sealmakes about 3 litres.

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